Dal Puri ~Simple Comforts

Today I had promised myself that I won’t go ahead with my ramblings, so all the regular visitors of my Virtual Kitchen, can simply heave a sigh of relief ! But hold on……..promises are meant to be broken isn’t it?
Well, I wont budge without talking about the Earth Hour, that was observed on 28th March, all around the globe.The question is did we participated and put off the lights for an hour? Nopes…the reason is we already did that for 6 hours during the day and do so religiously everyday, Thanks to the daily “loadshedding”. But the earth hour did made me sit and think about, how wonderful it would be, if all the residential areas (and not industrial ones) in Maharashtra at least, switched off the lights for an hour daily, then obviously we wont have to suffer the daily torture of six-hours-no-electricity…….Any one listening???

Now coming to Dal puri,which is one of the most common breakfast amongst Sindhis.Now all those health conscious people, before you frown upon me, let me assure you that the deep fried puris can be replaced with plain roti, koki, even bread ,but then few combinations are made in heaven.And Dal puri is one such awesome combination.
Long long ago…when we were kids,a neighbouring food thela was very popular place for all the morning persons to meet and chat ,while they waited for the aged, frail, soft spoken UNCLE, to assemble the Dal ,dal moong, dal bread etc, on the fresh, green leaves (Don’t remember whether they were betel leaves). The real dense, creamy plain dal (yellow split moong dal) flavored with just salt, turmeric and black pepper powder, used to be a staple breakfast for many of kids around,since it was non spicy,and for elders the dalmoong (Recipe coming soon), flavored with garam masala, some Imli chutney, and chopped boiled veggies was most loved breakfast with either Rotis orKoki

The memories of a toddler, studying in Balmandir (Play school) ,when that kid used to wait for Recess time so that mother would send that creamy dal on leaf,with some koki or puri wrapped in a handkerchief (During those times, no aluminum foils or fancy tissue wrappers were available) still lingers around me . Got the connection?? No?? Huh ,who would wait for a recess in two hour session of school, but a foodie like…yours Truly 🙂

The dough should not be too hard or too soft.Let it rest for a while.Then knead it little further to make the dough smooth and workable

Take a very small portion of this dough and roll it into small chapati.

Gently and carefully slide this puri in frying pan,and the oil should be hot

Slightly keep on pressing the sides of puri so that it puffs up(That's Fun!)

Toss it and cook it on slow flame for just about 3-4 seconds or till the surface appears light brown

To Make Dal

Pick, wash and soak moong dal for 15 minutes

Boil it in a pressure cooker with some salt,water and turmeric powder,untill two whistles of cooker.

It can be cooked in a pan or Handi too, the cooking time will be anywhere around 15-25 minutes depending upon the quality of dal and soaking time.

Whisk it with the hand whisker and adjust the consistency of dal. It should be thick creamy

Garnish it with black pepper powder.Optionally one can add the tempering of red chilly powder+garam masala powder+coriander powder, ¼ tsp of each,before serving. Another option is to heat up a charcoal piece, place a small steel katori in handi/ cooker containing dal, add a tsp of ghee over the charcoal and immediately cover the pan or cooker with a lid so that the smoke get trapped inside the container. This imparts a lovely smoky flavour to dal.

This dal has a tendency of thickening, soon after it is made, so add little hot water and boil, every time you serve it

45 thoughts on “Dal Puri ~Simple Comforts”

I think only sindhis understand the fabulous taste of moong dal and too yellow and cook with such a passion that nody in the world can do.I may sound loud but it is true.No one in the world eats poori with dal all eat it with ‘aloo ki sabzi’.It shows that sindhis give top billing to moong dal whereas all others treat as ‘beemaron ka khana’.I at the age of 63 still love eating pooris that too with dal,tariyal papar and hot cup of tea.Brilliant breakfast!Love it-Prakash Bhatia

Hi, just read the recipe for Dal Makhani (or Badhi dal) as we call it, looks good. We usually add mixture of Amchur, Red chilli pd, dhania pd. on top and a tablespoon of hot oil to temper the masala. Tastes yum too!

those puris and dal look fantastic, dear alka. maybe you should develop some recipes for chutneys, etc. that don’t need a blender or electrical appliances so that people with power cuts don’t have to go without cooking.

I am not afraid to fry pooris, for they are my love LOL really it’s not like we eat it everyday.. & when i do eat i don’t feel gulity but really enjoy. but the only dal i ever had with puri is the slightly sweet bengali chana (cholar dal) dal. this sounds good. i never had the pleasure of having fresh lunch in school as i had to travel to go to school & colleges. so it was always a dabba:-)

Nice one…I must try out koki…my very good friends in college were Sindhis and they brought such awesome meethi koki in their dabba…the dal sounds yum…love the pepper in it…and thanks for dropping by my blog

hi,
lovely read. Awesome pictures. I love the combo. I have nearly stopped making deep fried recipe at home 🙁 reading ur post I am tempted to make to them once in a while. Lovely blog! All the best!
TC

Forget the Puris, just take the dal, apply dal to 2 slices of bread and put any fried item like wada, pakoda, samosa or even tikki, just sprinkle some chat masala and behold u get sindhi sandwich. Just top it with fried green chilly and some tamarind chutney. This sandwich is popular in Kalbadevi (Ganesh gully, outside MJ market) and Ulhasnagar

Dal puri reminded me of my childhood and my mother who used to serve us sindhi makhni dal with garam garam puris, god where are those days and where are those lovely people.
World and time is completley changed.

The distribution of power (whichever meaning we choose) is really unfair in the world. A few countries suffer from load shedding cuts, while a few others take electricity for granted. Its the awareness that is lacking in most cases…hmph!

The poori and dal look sooo yummy, lovely pics too Alka. I wish I could have some right now..

Hi Alka,
U reminded me of those school days when mummy used to make dal puri for breakfast and we would gup up… i dont know how many… miss those days 🙂
U r site is amazing and reminds me of all the sindhi food which i miss making … thanks for reminding 🙂
And Chettichand jii lakh lakh vadiyu 🙂
regards.

Loved you Earth Hour blog and thank you for the Dal Puri recepe. I am trying it for this weekend breakfast. My younger daughter is a strict vegetarian so I have to find ways and means of making her eat protiens.